Source: Paints and Cocktails Costa Rica is quickly becoming a major destination for various types of learning programs. From Spanish as a Second Language to coding and from yoga to Krav Maga, quite a few international academies are choosing to establish a presence in Costa Rica in order to give students a fun and relaxing location to augment their learning. An interesting new academy, which wi...

Source: PSU The following press release was originally published by News Services department of Plymouth State University in New Hampshire.  PLYMOUTH, N.H. – A dozen Plymouth State University student nurses spent the first 10 days of the new year in Costa Rica, home of some of the world’s most pristine rain forests and beaches. But these students weren’t on vacation; in fact, they were hard...

Source: Fuerza Publica Over the last few years, a special community outreach program conducted by Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica, has helped to improve the quality of life for low-income public school students in our country. This year, the RECREO (school break) program in San Jose provided school supplies to more than 500 students whose families were not able to obtai...

Source: Flickr Commons Some of the prettiest tourist attractions in Costa Rica are located along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Cartographers have mapped out and designated more than 100 beaches in Costa Rica, and some of them are so secluded that they do not appear in commercially available maps. Depending on personal preference, some beaches may appear to be prettier than others, and this...

Wikimedia Commons Of all the venomous snakes in Costa Rica, the fearsome gargantilla (Micrurus mipartitus) is often regarded as one of the deadliest. The powerful venom of these snakes can not only cause instant tissue necrosis but also excruciating pain, epilepsy, shock, and death. What is it that makes this reptilian venom so potent? According to a recent study in Proceedings of the Natio...

WASHINGTON (Feb. 4, 2015)—Thirteen-year-old Grace Chung from Saratoga, California, has captured the grand prize of the 2014 International Photography Contest for Kids for her close-up portrait of a gecko. She has won a five-day, four-night trip to Washington, D.C., and a tour of National Geographic headquarters. The competition was conducted in partnership with the U.S. edition of National Geograp...

Roxy team surfer Nataly Bernold (PRWEB) February 05, 2015 Chica Surf Adventures offers women of all ages a chance to learn how to surf. They organize exceptional surf camps in places like Costa Rica, Hawaii and Panama. Choice locations, beautiful waves, experienced surf instructors and well planned itineraries make vacationing with Chica Surf Adventures an unforgettable experience. Its surf ca...

Students at Bethel Campus Over the last two decades, the Costa Rica Board of Tourism (Spanish initials: ICT) has been focusing on marketing our country as a premier destination for all types of visitors. Although Costa Rica has traditionally been considered a major destination for ecotourists and adventure travelers, ICT has been successful in attracting visitors who may visit our country for ...

Far Corner Theater in Costa Rica Honolulu, HI (PRWEB) January 31, 2015 - Far Corner Community Music Theatre announces that its Costa Rica Program, Musical Theatre Connections, is currently enrolling both high school participants and college interns for youth international programs this summer. Far Corners Community Musical Theatre, a small non-profit organization, brings musicals and other per...

UCR campus Students who wish to learn Spanish as a foreign language often forget to evaluate what is perhaps the best educational source in this regard: The University of Costa Rica (UCR). Each year, UCR welcomes more than 400 students who wish to learn Spanish in an institution of higher learning that is ranked among the 30 best universities in Latin America and among the best 500 in the worl...

Source: LIU BROOKLYN, N.Y., Jan. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- LIU Global is the nation's only accredited four-year college program where students travel in more than eight countries over eight semesters. A mix of adventurous, experiential learning, and rigorous classroom instruction is the foundation for this unique program that brings students from the rainforests of Costa Rica to hist...

Wikimedia Commons When enrolling a foreign student in the educational system of Costa Rica, parents should take into consideration that bullying and aggression between classmates seems to be on the rise in our country. To this end, officials from the Ministry of Public Education (Spanish initials: MEP) advise parents shopping for schools that they should inquire about how the institution handl...

Source: Wikimedia Commons In the mid-1990s, alternative rock band They Might Be Giants released a single titled Why Does the Sun Shine? As a way of partial explanation, the band explained that the Sun is a mass of incandescent gas, but the rest of the lyrics provide an answer that would be considered superficial to Advanced Physics researcher Álvaro Chavarría Gordienko from Costa Rica. &nbs...

Source: Jabad Lubavitch On a sunny and pleasant Sunday afternoon, the Jabad (Chabad) Lubavitch of Costa Rica celebrated the Januka Fiesta de las Luces (Hanukkah Festival of Light) with a very special activity for children in the loveable city of San Jose. The event took place at the elegant Avenida Escazu, and it was filled with fun, learning, and spirituality.   In addition to the ...

They are young, undereducated, unemployed, and disenfranchised. In Costa Rica and other parts of Latin America, they are known as the NiNis, an abbreviated portmanteau of “ni estudio, ni trabajo,” which translates into “I don’t study and don’t have a job.” The number of NiNis has been on the rise since 2010, and this has prompted public officials and researchers to take a closer look at this worri...

At the awards ceremony of the 26th Math Olympiad in Costa Rica, 66 medals were distributed among the 132 high school students who reached the final events of this academic competition, which this year was hosted and organized by the University of Costa Rica. Of special note among the finalists was the high number of female students getting medals this year. This fact was not lost on Yokarime River...

On Thursday, November 25th, the Ambassador of Costa Rica to Nicaragua, Don Javier Sancho, officially inaugurated a library located in a public school serving the community of Ciudad Sandino. According to institutional communique 4099 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the new library is about 15 minutes away from the populous capital city of Managua, and it holds many volumes of literature relate...

At the Regional Museum in San Ramon, province of Alajuela, twenty works of art from the 20th and 21st centuries await visitors, who do not have the benefit of knowing either the title or authorship of the works. Visitors to this museum, which is located in a thriving agricultural region of Costa Rica, must investigate the background of the untitled works of art and make their own determination as ...

This past August, a Web application developer that works closely with Google visited Costa Rica and met with our Minister of Education to discuss the potential of a special project to reduce dropout rates and truancy in public schools. The idea would be to teach students how to perform certain tasks online through the use of Google Apps; these tasks would entail communicating with peers around the...

University of Costa Rica Campus The United States Department of State, in conjunction with the Institute of International Education, recently issued a report on the number of international students who either travel abroad to enroll in higher education programs, or who arrive from other countries to study in the U.S. Both figures have increased, and it is interesting to note that Costa Rica is...

Source: Cogsi, DeviantArt The recent performance of the National Men's Football Team of Costa Rica at international friendly matches and during the 2014 Central American Cup in the United States have ratified the fact that our country's spirited performance at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil was no “Cinderella run.” Costa Rica is currently ranked by FIFA as number 15 in the world, and that's just...

At Finca 6 in Palmar Sur of the Osa canton yesterday, President Luis Guillermo Solis and representatives from the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) unveiled the official plaque commemorating the declaration of the National Park of the Stone Spheres as a World Heritage Site. The Mayor of the Osa canton and officials from the National Museum of Costa Rica we...

Source: RSN UCR There is a new and attractive lake atop the crater of the Turrialba volcano in the province of Cartago; alas, volcano tourists should not yet rejoice. The park remains closed and under yellow alert due to an early morning eruption on Thursday, which sent heavy plumes of ash followed by a gas exhalation phase. Needless to say, the lake is strictly off-limits to swimmers. &nbs...

Our dear readers who live in the United States, specifically in the Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, will be able to benefit Costa Rica by recycling their bicycles during the 2014 America Recycles Day later this week. Non-profit organization Bikes for the World is participating in a special campaign sponsored under the Keep America Beautiful umbrella, and they are working in conjunc...

The United States today celebrates Veterans Day, and in Costa Rica the American expat community often gathers to celebrate those who served their country’s Armed Forces.   Author’s Note: The use of the noun and adjective “American” in this article conforms to the definition in Princeton’s WordNet: (A native or inhabitant of the United States), and the recommendation by the Associated Pres...

Source: Paul Freed, California Academy of Sciences A groundskeeper in Rio de Oro de Santa Ana, province of San Jose, was cleaning up weeds and brush in an empty lot when he suddenly ran into a creature that resembled a large snake, but far uglier and slimier. The groundskeeper was startled and could have hacked the unsightly organism to pieces with his machete; fortunately, he isolated the ani...

A special geodesic instrument similar to devices that connect to the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network will measure minuscule terrain changes near the Turrialba volcano for the purpose of assessing future eruptions. In the meantime, the forecast for acid rain in some regions of Costa Rica remains along with warnings about continuing ash clouds. Scientists from the Observatory on...

Do you know about the Promising Artists of the 21st century in Costa Rica? This program is fostered by the United States Department of State to showcase prestigious young artists who will, without a doubt, become some of the biggest stars of the 21st century? Many of these young artists from the U.S. go on to achieve international renown. Here’s a recent press release from High Point University of...

Source: Ge PC Facebook Days after the powerful magmatic eruption of the Turrialba volcano in the province of Cartago, ash clouds and acid rain are affecting the lives of thousands of residents in Costa Rica. The impact of this geological aftermath has had a negative effect on public health and the agricultural sectors, but the tourism economy in the region has yet to report losses.   ...

After brief deliberation and disagreement, geologists from the two main Earth science research centers in Costa Rica have come to the agreement that the recent eruptions of the Turrialba volcano in the province of Cartago are magmatic rather than phreatic. They also agree that the ongoing activity could result in stronger volcanic eruptions such as the one that sent heavy ash clouds over the Centr...

The upscale and vibrant Municipality of Escazú is home to some of the most affluent and luxurious residential communities in the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (Spanish acronym: GAM). Unfortunately, Escazú is also home to a significant number of overweight residents. With nearly 20 percent of the population of Escazú significantly overweight or morbidly obese, municipal, educational and health...

One of the most pristine coastal areas of Costa Rica will be partially shut down after dark from now until March 15, 2015. The Las Baulas (Leatherback Turtles) Marine Park in the Osa Peninsula will close down beach access to Playa Grande, Playa Ventanas, Playa Langosta, and Playa Carbon from 6:00 pm to 5:00 am to allow for the massive arrivals of Dermochelys coriacea during nesting season. The ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Earlier this week, the Animal Planet cable television network premiered a new, two-hour documentary focusing on primate intelligence, particularly among the simian species. This engrossing TV program, which travels to Borneo, Thailand and Costa Rica, shows us how apes are smarter than we think, and that humans still have a lot to learn from our fellow species. Let's p...

At a boutique hotel in the picturesque beach town of Playa Carrillo, province of Guanacaste, a group of programmers are scratching their heads trying to figure out why none of the major surf report providers have Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), those programmatic gateways that provide access to data for third-party Web applications. The idea is to build a chat bot that can provide Web u...

Sergio and Giancarlo Pucci are brothers who share two passions: flying and photography. Over the last few years, they have flown dozens of hours with the intention of coming up with an aerial photographic record that proves what passengers of domestic airlines such as Nature Air already know: Costa Rica looks very pretty from the ground, but from the air she looks amazing.   Togethe...

From the British Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica: Chevening Scholarships are a global scholarship program of the United Kingdom, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organizations.   The Scholarships offer the opportunity to study for a one-year Master’s degree at any of the UK’s leading universities, and are awarded to outstanding established or emerging l...

La Carpio, one of the poorest slums of the Costa Rica is home to 50,000 people; the largest bi-national community in Central America. It has as many Costa Ricans as Nicaraguans who have immigrated in search of a better future for themselves and their families. This is where Maris Stella Fernandez plans to organize a symphony orchestra while building a cultural and social integration center. &nb...

On Tuesday, October 7th, hundreds of university students will take to the streets to protest against planned budget cuts to the public education system of Costa Rica. The students will have the support of President Luis Guillermo Solis, who is facing a very difficult task in curbing the mounting national deficit at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis of high unemployment, limited ...

Although ecotourism and surfing are the top tourism activities in Costa Rica, SCUBA divers in the know have been gradually discovering our numerous underwater havens. In the Pacific Coast we find Isla Murcielago (Bat Islands), part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area. The Bat Islands are located in the midst of the Costa Rica Thermal Convection Dome, the richest concentration of phytoplankton in t...

Alleged Greenwashing by Infinito Gold The controversial Canadian company at the center of the Crucitas open pit mining scandal stands to lose the land it acquired in San Carlos after a series of courtroom defeats. By order of the First Civil Circuit Court of Costa Rica, Infinito Gold must forfeit the land it purchased years ago near the San Juan River. The six plots of land are being held by t...